Training Manager

This role is critical to SouthStar Energy’s commitment to delivering exceptional customer experience, meeting regulatory requirements, and operational excellence. The primary purpose of this position is to design, develop, and maintain comprehensive customer service training materials that support over 550,000 customers across 13 Local Distribution Companies (LDCs) within the markets of GA, FL, IL, MI, OH, and PA. These materials are used by internal teams and multiple outsourced contact center vendors operating across various sites, ensuring consistency, quality, and alignment with SouthStar Energy’s strategic objectives.

Responsibilities

• Functional Expertise
  • Develop and execute learning strategies: Lead the creation and management of training initiatives for SouthStar Customer Operations, identifying opportunities and collaborating with contact center vendors to drive operational excellence.
  • Manage training delivery: Oversee training for internal teams and outsourced providers across multiple locations, applying adult learning principles to enhance engagement and performance.
  • Strengthen vendor collaboration: Ensure clear communication and alignment with vendors to meet mutual goals, while driving scalability and resource planning to support evolving business needs.
  • Optimize training material management: Implement a version control, storage, and delivery system for training materials to ensure accuracy and consistency.
  • Standardize operational guidelines: Develop and maintain business rules and standard operating procedures to ensure clarity and alignment with strategic objectives.
• Business Acumen
  • Align contact center operations with strategic goals: Ensure contact center operations consistently support SouthStar Energy’s business objectives, customer satisfaction, and overall growth.
  • Stay ahead of regulatory requirements: Maintain expert knowledge of current and emerging regulatory standards to ensure compliance and proactively address changes.
  • Master business and operational insights: Cultivate advanced expertise in SouthStar Energy’s business processes and operations to drive informed decision-making and continuous improvement.
  • Optimize vendor and operational expenses: Track, analyze, and report various associated training costs while providing strategic insights and actionable recommendations to support efficient business planning and budgeting for Customer Operations.
  • Deliver results and transparency: Track, measure, and effectively communicate performance results across all organizational levels, ensuring alignment, accountability, and actionable insights.
• Engagement
  • Collaborate across teams: Partner with managers and business units to lead strategic and tactical planning for internal operations and vendor management, ensuring efficiency and effectiveness.
  • Support marketing and pricing campaigns: Work with marketing and pricing teams to implement targeted campaigns and segmentation strategies that attract and retain high-value customers.
  • Oversee call quality: Monitor call quality and adherence to scripting, providing actionable feedback to internal stakeholders to drive continuous improvement.
  • Manage change effectively: Coordinate with regulatory, legal, and cross-functional teams to manage changes within contact center operations.
  • Champion customer advocacy: Represent the voice of the customer within SouthStar Energy and vendor organizations, ensuring their needs and expectations are met.
  • Foster alignment with vendors: Act as a bridge between SouthStar Energy and vendors, ensuring collaboration, mutual understanding, and alignment to achieve shared objectives.
• Driving Results
  • Analyze operational metrics: Monitor, analyze, and report operational data daily, weekly, monthly, and annually to identify trends and opportunities for improvement. Leverage telephony systems and artificial intelligence tools to identify training gaps, analyze root causes, and develop targeted action plans to address and resolve underlying issues effectively.
  • Address customer needs: Identify trends in customer inquiries and feedback across various segments, collaborating with internal teams to address and resolve customer concerns effectively.
  • Optimize programs and partnerships: Work with internal and external stakeholders to design new programs, refine existing initiatives, and phase out underperforming programs or vendors to maximize impact and efficiency.

Requirements

• Education, Certifications/Licenses: Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience.
• Experience Required:
  • 8+ years of training content design, development, and delivery experience in a contact center environment.
  • Past experience in consumer services or B2C-related industry.
• Preferred Experience:
  • Certified Professional in Training Management (CPTM™).
  • Previous experience in a retail energy industry.
  • Past experience working with large-scale BPO agreements incorporating multi-towered services.
  • Experience with Microsoft Dynamics – Banner, Prime, or a similar billing system.

Skills

• Ability to develop training materials using different media and learning principles.
• Ability to conduct trending and data analysis.
• Excellent analytical skills.
• Microsoft Office proficiency.
• Exceptional verbal and written communication skills. Ability to communicate in a positive and professional manner with customers, co-workers, employees, and vendors.
• Strong organizational and problem resolution skills.
• Ability to coordinate and manage multiple tasks effectively.
• Minimal supervision is required. Must be able to demonstrate working independently yet operating effectively as a team player.
• Preferred: Operational knowledge of the deregulated natural gas market in Georgia.

Schedule

The incumbent works on-site in an office environment 4 days per week, with one remote workday. This schedule is subject to change based on business needs. This position requires occasional domestic and international travel (5-20% travel). Trips may require air travel and/or overnight stay away from home for one or more nights.

Working Conditions/Physical Requirements

• Position occasionally requires prolonged standing or walking.
• The role sometimes necessitates reaching above shoulder level.
• The role requires the ability to lift up to 10 pounds.

Benefits

Southern Company invests in the well-being of its employees and their families through a comprehensive total rewards strategy that includes competitive base salary, annual incentive awards for eligible employees, and health, welfare, and retirement benefits designed to support physical, financial, and emotional/social well-being. This position may also be eligible for additional compensation, such as an incentive program, with the amount of any bonus/awards subject to the terms and conditions of the applicable incentive plan(s). A summary of the benefits offered for this position can be found here.

About Southern Company Gas

Southern Company Gas is a wholly owned subsidiary of Atlanta-based Southern Company (NYSE:SO), America’s premier energy company. Southern Company Gas serves approximately 4.2 million natural gas utility customers through its regulated distribution companies in four states and approximately 600,000 retail customers through its companies that market natural gas. Other nonutility businesses include investments in interstate pipelines and ownership and operation of natural gas storage facilities. For more information, visit southerncompanygas.com.

Southern Company (NYSE: SO) is a leading energy provider serving 9 million customers across the Southeast and beyond through its family of companies. Providing clean, safe, reliable, and affordable energy with excellent service is our mission. The company has electric operating companies in three states, natural gas distribution companies in four states, a competitive generation company, a leading distributed energy solutions provider with national capabilities, a fiber optics network, and telecommunications services. Through an industry-leading commitment to innovation, resilience, and sustainability, we are taking action to meet customers' and communities' needs while advancing our goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Our uncompromising values ensure we put the needs of those we serve at the center of everything we do and are the key to our sustained success. We are transforming energy into economic, environmental, and social progress for tomorrow.